"Really throw Kombat".
On June 30, the US CEO 2024 Fighting Championship came to a successful conclusion, with more than 4,500 contestants from more than 40 countries and regions competing fiercely around fighting games such as Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8 and Mortal Kombat 1.
On the final day of the tournament, there was a small episode in the finals of Mortal Kombat 1: Champion Dyloch Brooks won $565 for his performance, but had to pay nearly $3,000 out of his own pocket for smashing the on-site equipment.
The ins and outs of the matter are actually quite simple, when Dyloch manipulated General Shao to defeat his opponent neatly and successfully won the championship, he stood up excitedly and raised his chair and threw it down the stage - he should not have imagined that his unintentional action happened to smash the lighting equipment under the stage.
Not long after, event organizer Alex Jebailey tweeted about Dyloch's PayPal account and said that someone should come forward to pay for the smashed lighting equipment. Alex then issued an official statement warning the contestants to stop throwing things around, as the Dyloch contestant smashed the LED light for $2,992.
The CEO Fight Championship has never been known for its high prize money, and the Dyloch fighter won the tournament with only $565. If the tournament organizers hadn't had any insurance, Dyloch would have been losing money playing the tournament by putting all of his winnings into it and owing them $2,427.
Of course, the phenomenon of losing money to play matches is not uncommon in the world of fighting games, except for a few popular events, most fighting games have a small prize pool for professional competitions, and the head of the champion of each event usually does not exceed $1,000, and the second, third, and lower-ranked players can get even less money, and if you include transportation and accommodation expenses, I am afraid that the return on investment will be a problem.
Most fighting game pros choose to travel thousands of miles to compete in unfamiliar cities or countries out of love for the game. Just like the hapless Dyloch, even if he lost a fortune to compete, he was still excited the moment he lifted the belt.
Of course, Dyloch's $2,427 debt has nothing to do with the professional esports environment of fighting games, and if he hadn't thrown his chair around, or if he didn't throw it that accurately, he would have had a lot of money left in his pocket when he left the ring.
In fact, the rudeness of throwing chairs in the fighting game arena is not unique, at least Hungrybox, a Pro Smash Bros. player in Super Smash Bros. in 2022 and May this year, caused controversy over throwing chairs.
Everyone can understand that professional players are stressed, highly concentrated, and need to release their emotions at the end of the game, but the chair thrown out is always a big killer, and who can afford to pay if it hurts an innocent passerby.
It may be simple to solve this problem fundamentally, and it is recommended that the organizers of fighting game competitions choose carefully when buying chairs in the future, and it is best to buy such chairs that will not cause any damage no matter how you throw them: